Fora

Is there a difference between the current issue seats other than the addition of contrasting piping colour? What justifies a $1000 price differential?

TeslaTap.com | maart 19, 2014

In addition to piping, there are some alcantara inserts in place of some of the leather. There is no difference as far as comfort or shape.

Captain_Zap | maart 19, 2014

I chose the Performance seats because the non-Performance seats were perforated. I don't like perforated leather seats.
But that was a long time ago and it was a Signature model.

Things may have changed since then. I'd call and ask.

Pettifogger.ca.us | maart 19, 2014

Now you've got me more confused than usual. I've got a P, er, I *have* a P, not P+, built last month. The seats have neither contrast piping nor perforations. Am I missing out?

nickjhowe | maart 19, 2014

The Performance car and Performance seats are unrelated (now).

Originally, the Performance car came with Performance seats. They are now configurable completely separately.

And 'performance' only related to the fact that they were in the performance car (and original were 12-way vs the standard 8-way). The bolsters and other structure are no different to standard seats, which are now also 12-way.

huzz1970 | maart 19, 2014

We just picked up the car. The original performance seats seemed harder and flatter, but it could be my imagination. Our seats are tan with the Alcantara or something like it on the bolster faces. I have driven about 200 miles so far on the freeway and local, about 30-45 minutes at a time and find them very comfortable.

dborn @nsw.au | maart 19, 2014

but what justifies $1000? Two bits of synthetic fabric that resembles suede? I accept that such fabric is less "slippery" than pure leather, but.....
Using less hide is more expensive? I don't think so. I am familiar with alcantara from its use in boats.
How does that make it a "performance" seat? It is not as if it is a well researched and engineered seat like a Recaro.

RanjitC | maart 19, 2014

@dborn
Tesla has to make money to justify their astronomical stock price.

carlk | maart 19, 2014

Well no one is pointing a gun to your head and force you to buy it. You are free to keep the $1000. The justification is there ARE people who do pay $1000 for it.

kkjaved | maart 19, 2014

Are there any real performance seats in the pipeline ?

zwede | maart 20, 2014

Yes, Elon has mentioned a couple of times that they are working on seats with better lateral support. He also said they were planning on making it possible to retrofit them on earlier cars. He didn't give any indication on pricing or if the old seats would be accepted as "partial trade-in".

carlk | maart 20, 2014

It was reported by some posters cars made in the last couple months already have modified seats with better support. There is no announcement of retrofit though.

jordanrichard | maart 20, 2014

It is quite amazing how people get seriously upset and outraged by the prices of things. As carlk siad, then just don't buy it. I think $1000 for the LED "mood lighting" option was too much, so guess what, I didn't order it. Earth shaking problem solved.

Andrew_OH_Tesla... | maart 20, 2014

I have standard seats. I did have a P85 loaner for four days with every conceivable upgrade. I do think the seats were more comfortable.

However, I now have the Wet Okole seat covers installed on the front seats. This combination is more comfortable than both the standard or upgraded seats. I am approaching 30k miles at just over a year.

Like everything, it is personal preference. Unfortunately, you won't know until you spend quite some time in each seat.

JAD | maart 20, 2014

I was very happy a week ago when I realized I could upgrade to the performance seats(Tesla was very friendly and happily let me change to order on a Sunday evening). The car handles reasonably well, but you slide right off the all leather seats. The little alcantra helps some, and with the black interior, my wife loves the red piping. If it makes her happy, it is WELL worth $1,000!

No matter how hard we try to convince ourselves, if value is your prime motivator, the Model S is not the right car. It is a great car, safe car, fast car, but Elon openly admits, we are paying for long term development of affordable EV's.

Thom EM | maart 20, 2014

I'm actually cheerful about paying for their R&D. Who else is going to pay for it, if not us and me? I'd rather have the car to drive than a bunch of shares appreciating in a safe deposit box somewhere. Well, actually, I'd rather have sold wildly appreciated shares to buy the car, but having the car is not too shabby a substitute.

xrayangiodoc | maart 20, 2014

I determined that the P seats did not provide value for the cost. Ditto for the fake suede headliner, especially when one is buying the sun roof and the actual area of headliner material is rather small. Conversely, I did feel that upgraded LED lighting would be useful in the long term. That's the nice thing about being able to order your own car. You can get what you want (or can afford).

They don't have the perforated seats anymore. Also, perforated seats are not necessarily just for cars with a "colling" feature. Just the nature of perforated seats helps midigate that hot sticky feeling you get from leather in the summer. It would be nice if the seats in the MS were that way, but alas.....

Captain_Zap | maart 21, 2014

Consider me educated. I went all in for performance leather to avoid perforations and now it is complimentary!

pilotSteve | maart 21, 2014

Perforated white leather and sig red are two of the only remaining "exclusive" things about my sig car. I was sold on the sig upgrade because I love the perforated leather. (Having special ordered it on a previous BMW)

Captain_Zap | maart 21, 2014

@pilotSteve

I have the un-perforated white leather with Sig Red. I think our VINS are very close together, IIRC, and my car was delivered a week before yours. Perhaps I got mine a week before you did because I went with the un-perforated leather.

I had perforated leather before and decided I didn't like how it trapped particles. That is what solidified my choice in performance seats.

Gadfly | maart 21, 2014

When I ordered in November the manager at my tesla store told me there was absolutely no structural difference and that the $1000 was a waste of money.

jorgenmollerjr | maart 21, 2014

I went through the same decision process. from a sports car enthusiast point of view, the alacartha panels in the sport seats do offer more grip when driving 'sporty' you can tell the difference. In my other performance cars with and without is a significant difference . That said,,, it is a bit of a stretch to call them the Sport Seat with no added bolstering.

holidayday | maart 21, 2014

Agree that for $1000, there should be a significant difference in support or features (such as the previous 12 way vs 8 way seat).

If it came with back and shoulder massage features, then that is definitely worth it.

Webcrawler | maart 21, 2014

I went with non performance. I do not like the look of the inserts on the performance seats....

GaryREM.va.us | maart 21, 2014

I think they are 'performance' seats because they were originally only available on the performance model not because they offered any significant performance difference.

I don't think they offer any real difference in performance (but I got them because I liked the look with the contrasting piping).

I still can't understand the comments about sliding on the seats. If I sit straight in the seats, legs extended so foot is resting on the footrest and front tilted so my legs are supported, I have no issues with sliding around.

Of course, there are people sitting in all kinds of positions, so that may explain their comments. You here of people's legs hitting window switches (can't happen if you have foot on footrest), and people's legs hitting center console (seems like you have to be too close for this).